fun stuff

I have seen many Phil shows since Jerry's demise with the make-up of the band changing on an almost bi-yearly basis. This has to be the worst Phill show I've ever heard. There are certainly some highlights, but this band is very weak, especially compared to Phil band of 2008/2009. And I ma sorry to say that this show confirms my belief that Vince was a huge mistake for the Dead. His keyboards are not strong enough and his vocals are very sub-par. I heard once that the only reason they chose Vince was because of his high vocal range and not because of his playing ability. This show confirms it.

Could be filed under "Missing Man Formation", as it does sound more like a Vince gig than a Phil gig. Excellent throughout, the only black spot being (as usual) the presence of Bobby Strickland. Someone should have long ago forbidden him to ever touch a saxophone... Anyway Vince saves the day with his excellent vocals, even above the obnoxious sax-squeaks on "Baba O'Riley" (not "Reilly", btw ;-)))

Set 1: Alligator> Hard to Handle> Cissy Strut> Hard to Handle> Alligator, Astral Weeks, Jack-a-Roe, True Blue, Blue Sky, To Love Somebody, Cosmic Charlie
Set 2: Broken Arrow, Golden Days, Baba O'Reilly> Tomorrow Never Knows> Love Supreme Jam> Dark Star Jam> Gimme Some Lovin'> Space> Days Between> Dark Star Jam> Box of Rain
E1: It's All Too Much E2: Ripple
The Band: Scott Amendola Stan Franks Gary Lambert Phil Lesh Bobby Strickland Vince Welnick Scott Amendola Stan Franks Gary Lambert Phil Lesh Bobby Strickland Vince Welnick

I was almost positive that I heard a "Cissy Strut" at the 06:19 mark of "Hard to Handle"... It comes out of the "Hard to Handle" jam, they lock into it for a couple of mins until it then drifts into a jam that is somewhere between the 2 themes and then finally hits the final verse of "Hard to Handle"... I knew I heard it and I was about to mention it in this review, when I decided to check the setlist from philzone and sure enough they have it marked as "Hard to Handle > Cissy Strut > Hard to Handle"...

Eitherway, it was definitely an unexpected treat!

This is a "must have" for fans of Vince Welnick, he delivers some of the best singing I have ever heard from him. Check out Astral Weeks.